TCA: HBO Won’t Air ‘Criminal Justice’ Pilot With James Gandolfini

This may seem obvious, but HBO has no plans to air the pilot of "Criminal Justice" that James Gandolfini shot before his death.

Network CEO Richard Plepler and president of programming Michael Lombardo were asked about the fate of the pilot in a Television Critics Association panel Thursday. He said Richard Price and Steven Zaillan are "writing away" on the show as the network decides what to do next, but that it's "hard to think" about replacing Gandolfini.

"I can't imagine us airing the pilot with James in it," said Lombardo. "James' passing took the wind out of our sails quite a bit at HBO and so it's taken some time to be able to have conversations with Steve about the future of that."